Have you ever wondered what teachers spend their weekends doing? What kind of things did they get up to when they were our age? How did they end up at Pakuranga College? Here at the Pakage, we want to fill you in on all the......
Breathe in, breathe out. I sit in the sun, basking in the warm rays, soaking up the sunlight as the day fades away. Breathe in, breathe out. Photons are what I need; I need them in my chloroplast. The chlorophyll in me helps to trap......
I’m walking through a dark corridor Where the walls are made of fear and doubt The shadows whisper secrets I can’t ignore But I must keep holding onto faith somehow. No matter what darkness I have to face I will never give in, never give......
You used to love the ocean, being assaulted by the ever-returning salty waves that stung your eyes but would mellow out once again. The ocean makes the sound of chatter, much louder than humans could ever scream. The sand is warming beneath you, and the......
When my parents finally got Netflix, my main goal was to watch all these feel-good comedies, and classic sitcoms like The Office, Community, etc. Bojack Horseman is not one of those. It’s not 20 minutes of laughter, providing you with a light-hearted escape from your......
why do I feel so empty? bored. unfulfilled. like something’s missing. like I want something more. like there’s this giant bottomless infinite hole inside me. so I try to fill it with all kinds of junk to make it go away but these don’t work.......
Chapter one: ’42’ No matter the time or the people, one key question must always be asked. An important question that digs itself deep within our subconscious and possibly our unconscious mindset, the question being: What is the meaning of life? The wonder of whether......
It’s satisfying going underneath a crashed wave, Not feeling anything but the serene smooth water around me, Encapsulating me, Holding me, As I know the wave thunders down above my head, It’s like I can forget it’s there, Ignore its presence, And sail safely beneath,......
Air strikes are ordered on villages, with an attack on a monastery killing 11 children that were attending school there at the time. Journalists, celebrities and any public figure who dares to speak out against the murderous regime are arrested and jailed. This is the reality that Myanmar's people are living in now....
Individuals have been told that they are responsible for halting the destruction of the planet by recycling, using paper straws, and riding a bike to work instead of driving. Yet when 100 corporations are responsible for 90% of plastic waste and 71% of emissions, real legislation towards mitigating unsustainable practices in businesses seems to go unprioritised....
Soup is nice. Soup is simple, but there are layers to it that can greatly increase or decrease it’s complexity. Soup can be made from a powder sachet. Or a great big Michelin kitchen. Soup is universal, everyone knows a soup. ...
As our sky darkens you reveal to us your round silver breadth slowly bleeding your nocturnal light unto the gravel roads that crunch beneath my feet....
Let me set the scene for you. Imagine that you are at a party, the clock ticks midnight and people slowly leave. You’re still there, all alone by yourself, left to clean up the mess. The loneliness and emptiness creeps in. Your mind drifts off to the past, both better and worse times, for what is nostalgia better at than embellishing the past?...
It's not often we hear about who our Principal is when you strip that title away. What music does he like? Who are his inspirations? I was offered the opportunity to chat with Mr Williams and learn a bit more about him....
It was late on a Sunday night after a long, rainy drive home. I arrived at my house and decided to make a tea before bed to warm myself up. I sat on my old raggedy chair, weighed down by my thoughts and old memories of family that I missed....
idle fountain the tasteless familiarity wraps itself around my ankles flat and uninspiring vacantly promising a beauty I know you to be capable of...
“Tap, tap, tap,” I tapped on the desk, bored, waiting for the first bell to ring. As it finally rang, signifying the start of class, the teacher walked in and I looked up. She had a boy with her. Sandy hair and tan skin. He looked nervous and I figured he must be new because I’d never seen him before. ...
In this day and age, anything and everything can be considered ‘cringe’. I get it. Some things seem silly or dumb to a lot of folks. Stans and those sorts of communities just seem to be constantly under fire for being 'cringe'. It makes sense - I understand why these communities seem odd. But while I understand the reasoning, I am not a supporter of cringe culture....
Everyone, whether consciously or unconsciously, fears crashing. Though the chances are slim, we all have that fear. Unfortunately, Crash, directed by Paul Haggis doesn’t seem to have this fear....
Throughout his career, Christopher Nolan has become synonymous with mind-bending narratives. He has an incredible strength in storytelling, allowing him to construct complex yet comprehensible plots that never fail to shock cinemagoers. Every aspect of his directorial style aids in achieving the overarching purpose of......
I left the door 3 inches open. The only rule my parents had for us; 3 inches that made them feel better about us. My hands fall from the warm knob of the door and, in tiptoes, I turn to face a reflection of you…......
It’s stopped ticking. No longer paused in pain, Ceased in moments of change, Interrupted in times of intensity. Nor placated in passionate ecstasy. My arms are dead, Drowned in water. Frozen. Nothing to mend, Shattered in tatters. Broken. No breath to be......
If coldness is what I am then how do I love? I freeze everyone I touch blocking them out of my life never to return. My heart is fragile. The thin layer of ice that sits upon a lake at the end of winter.......
A greyish kind of cotton Wraps me in its wool Protects me from this seashell ocean Away from its gritty sand. Can you hear it? When it’s pressed against your ear? Do you remember The ocean’s waves and fear? This greyish kind......
Flag The colours of the Finnish flag are white and blue. The cross is a symbol of other Nordic countries which have a similar cross design. The colour blue represents the bright sky and the number of lakes all over Finland whilst the colour white......
Crabs are one of the most optimal life forms in existence. This is not an exaggeration, but a fact upon which the ocean’s ecosystem balances upon....
Numbness is a feeling. When you’ve been lying on your arm for too long and the circulation to your hand gets cut off, you start to feel numbness tingling....
Listening to your favourite artist’s new album is one of the most bipolar experiences you may ever have....
Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars which is also known as the Pleiades. Typically, it rises in mid-winter and for the vast majority of Māori iwi it symbolises the beginning of the new year....
Have you ever had a dream that you could never recall? The sensation of losing something… that you could never remember?...
Dating all the way back to 300 B.C in Ancient Greece, the ideal woman is stated to have ‘light skin’....
Salty tears running down your face, no one warned me about the nice guy....
A shadow of light betwixt the leaves, a scamper of feet between the eaves....
These walls, suffocated in layers of mortar and concealed by globs of paint. Each wall looking identical to the last. A repeating pattern of squares and bars....
Anzac Day is a solemn occasion for both Australians and New Zealanders because it commemorates all of the gallant and valiant soldiers in the military armed forces. We remember those who sacrificed their lives in Gallipoli to serve their country, as well as honour those who returned. ...
Don’t you just love coming home from school, eager to turn on your PC and play your favourite video game, only to have it ruined for you? As soon as you speak into your microphone, a guy from behind the screen insistently makes a sexist remark implying that you aren’t capable of playing the video game — solely based on the fact that you are a woman....
10 Things I Hate About You is a modern take on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew set in an American high school. The story is clever and funny, with plenty of teenage angst and romance. ...
For Christian communities worldwide, Easter eggs are used to represent the resurrection of Jesus Christ as an egg symbolises a new life. Nowadays, the majority of Easter eggs are covered in coloured foil and created from chocolate....
Canada is a gigantic country with an abundance of lakes, rivers, magnificent landscapes and land regions surrounded by thousands of islands....
School is a good asset to have as it teaches you to learn, but it should be portrayed as a journey —a small chapter in your life. This is only the beginning. The skills we learn here are important, but life is about how we use them....
Nature in the summer season is full of bright colors - everything around is flourishing, the birds are chirping and the nature around me is shining!...
The “AI take over” cliche is a story that has been spread throughout the world. Whether our fault or the machines, we have always been fascinated by the creation of life, but right here and now AI can only do commands their masters tell them....
I was diagnosed with autism when I was 3 years old. I have faced many challenges due to my autism, including having a low tolerance for loud sounds, sensory issues, and difficulties with social engagement. However, over the years, I have improved quite a lot physically, mentally, and emotionally. ...
16-year-old Mikita was detained at a Belarusian protest, and is now in solitary confinement and has reportedly been tortured....
Janna Jihad is a 15-year-old Palestinian journalist living in Israeli-occupied West Bank. When Janna was only 7 years old, she witnessed her uncle's murder by the Israeli military....
Have you ever called someone talented or gifted? We live in an achievement-obsessed world that is quick to slap these labels on us, but the reality is that we must work hard to achieve our goals....
It began on the 24th of February, with a livestream video from a Crimea-Ukraine border crossing station at 3:59am showing Russia’s first signs of invasion....
Giving up on your favorite things Is like cutting off a bird’s wings...
Queen Elizabeth II is currently the longest reigning monarch in British history and is celebrating an unprecedented occasion in the British Royal Family. Last month, on the 6th of February, she celebrated the Platinum Jubilee for 70 years of service as a monarch....
We are in the eye of the storm, or at least that’s what it feels like right now. With every new, awful thing that’s happening around the world, it feels like the view of a normal reality is slipping a little further away. ...
Not often do we see a film targeted at adults that genuinely values the perspectives and lives of children, but that is exactly what Mike Mills' spectacular C’mon C’mon does....
Listening to an album in its entirety is like opening a door to the true intentions of each single you’ve previously heard on the radio....
I began my journey at Pakuranga College on the 3 February 2017 as a small, shy Year 9 student, having no knowledge of what high school would be like....
You may think that being a ball owned by an 11-year-old boy is not that fun, but you would be wrong. ...
If we’re lucky, once in our generation, a film comes along that completely changes the way we perceive cinema....
Humans are daily prisoners of the temptation to let go of responsibilities. The reason we often give ourselves is as simple as the “lack of motivation”....
It is said that we are born with two fears, the fear of falling and the fear of being dropped....
The cycle begins with the two twins of the pacific: El Niño and La Niña. For thousands of generations, they have brought life and death to the peoples of the Pacific....
This short book is dedicated to the superwoman, Jacinda Ardern. Thank you for being such a great leader and bringing New Zealand to a great place in life now!...
My 13 years on this planet have been a little confusing. I have learned of countless aspects of life from which one can attract meaning if such meaning can be drawn. I have additionally learned that there can be no singular meaning of life to define us all, or even any part of us. What I have learned first of all is that trying to put words to the meaning of life is a mission of absolute absurdity....
For almost the past two years, our lives have been turned upside down all due to one event - the Covid-19 pandemic....
Mr Williams; in my 4 years at Pakuranga College, I have seen him around the school, heard him speak at assemblies and said a passing hello, but I have never really got to know him. I figured it was about time that the greater student body, and myself, learnt a bit more about the man behind the magic....
School can be an incredibly stressful time for all of us, especially in term one as we try to get into the rhythm of 2021, with lockdowns and school events all trying to disrupt our routines. It is important to focus on your learning and......
Hello all. I am writing about the Aardvark today. The so-called, “beauty of the south Sahara” can be thought of as a possum, with the ears of a naked bunny of moderate size, the snout of a piglet whose face has been protruded to a......
At some point, your world caves in. The bridge of emotion deliquesces into the air, leaving your consciousness to feel the wrath of the void. Whether you continue to persist is all up to yourself, but the fortuity of life is too sweet to let......
Look at your fluorescent smile, As it lights up the mirror full of doubt that flooded your mind for a while. I see red, I see pink and the blue is down the sink, Because those nights you used to cry with those teardrops trickling......
Democracy is something that we take for granted in countries like ours. Every certain amount of years, we go and vote for the people we want leading our country. The power goes to the people, as it should because everything that the higher-ups do will......
Hate crimes and acts of racism against Asian and Pacific Islanders have risen at a horrific rate in the past year. The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the amount anti-Asian violence. According to the organisation Stop AAPI Hate, 3795 incidents of discrimination and hate against Asian......
I woke up one day, feeling like an egg. I got dressed like an egg, sat down like an egg, hell I even drew a new self-portrait that day(spoiler alert, I drew an egg). For some reason, my newfound egginess gave me a sort of......
If you’ve never heard of @ilovepakcollegesomuch, you’re either new or have been living under a rock. @ilovepakcollegesomuch is the most popular school meme page. They have over 2000 followers and a bunch of hilarious and relatable posts about being here at Pakuranga College. It was......
On earth, garbage covers the surface. The only soul to be seen is Wall-E; a robot with the purpose of cleaning the planet. After 700 years, Wall-E has developed a personality with human-like characteristics and emotions. When Eve, a robot whose objective is to find......
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black This is a wonderfully written fantasy about a young half-fae girl who becomes entrapped within a broken kingdom’s struggle for power. She has to lie, cheat and deceive her way through the novel. It also features a very enthralling......
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